The two chambers have gaveled out for the summer and aren’t currently scheduled to return to voting sessions until mid-September.

In the meantime, their failure to carry out a fundamental duty has cast into doubt critically needed financial assistance for Philadelphia’s cash-strapped public schools, along with an appropriation for Penn State University.

In a statement released last week, the Corbett administration said lawmakers’ failure to act on the bill could impact available funding by as much as $235 million.

Corbett has called on lawmakers “to resolve their differences and act responsibly to send the Fiscal Code to my desk for approval as soon as possible.”

“We have to take a look, the spokesman, Steve Miskin, told the station. “That’s what we are going to confirm and check.”

In years past, passing the Fiscal Code has been a largely pro forma act that was completed alongside approval of the budget and other pieces of implementing legislation, such as the Welfare and School Code bills.

It seems clear that the delay has less to do with the technicalities of the legislation and far more over whether the Legislature should take up a payday lending proposal that would have potentially disastrous consequences for Pennsylvania’s neediest residents.

If lawmakers and Corbett want to credibly claim they passed an on-time budget, then the House and Senate must return to voting session and do the job their constituents elected them to do.